Watch Auctions in Europe June 2011

(click through to full June view)

1 June:

Kaplans (Stockholm): Lilla Watches http://www.kaplans.se/kaplans/auctiongoods.aspx?AuktID=2137

4 June:

Kaplans (Stockholm): Watches http://www.kaplans.se/kaplans/auctiongoods.aspx?AuktID=2136

8 June:

Bonhams (London): Fine Watches & Wristwatches http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/18849/

9 June:

Fellows (Birmingham): Secondhand Jewells &Watches http://www.fellows.co.uk/wrist-watch-auctions

21 June:

Koller (Zurich): Watches http://www.kollerauktionen.ch/en/auktionen/auktionskalender.asp

23 June:

auction.fr (Geneva): Montres-Bracelets & Haute Joallerie  http://www.auction.fr/FR/v16814-hotel-des-ventes-de-geneve-montres-bracelets-haute-joaillerie/infos.html

Fellows (Birmingham): Secondhand Jewells &Watches  http://www.fellows.co.uk/wrist-watch-auctions

30 June:

auction.fr (Paris): Bijoux, Montres, Objets de Vitrine http://www.auction.fr/FR/v16796-rossini-bijoux-montres-objets-de-vitrine/infos.html

Have fun!

Breitling for sale: Navitimer Limited Edition Patrouille de France

As I like to rotate my collection, I am selling a beautiful 1990's Navitimer Limited Edition "Patrouille de France". The hand wind movement is a Lemania 1873, which is historically linked to the cal. 321 movement on the Omega Speedmaster and to the Breguet movements today.

It's been recently serviced.

It's a real classic and should part of any good collection...

Check it out at:

http://118i5.chronoads.com

Major wristwatch auctions - European calendar 2011

I spend a lot of my time trawling through auction catalogs. They give a fascinating insight into the history, rarity, and  value of wristwatches around the world.

I now have completed a list of the major auctions in Europe and will be listing these on a monthly basis.

May 2011 is a particularly busy month (best month just before the major holidays) and here are the scheduled auctions that I am aware of:

12 May:
Fellows (Birmingham): Secondhand Jewells and Watches http://www.fellows.co.uk/wrist-watch-auctions

15 May:
Antiquorum (Geneva): Important Collectors' Wristwatches, Pocket Watches & Clocks http://www.antiquorum.com
Sotheby's (Geneva):  Important Watches http://www.sothebys.com

16 May:
Christie's (Geneva): Important Watches http://www.christies.com/features/auctions/0511/important-watches/

19 May:
auction.fr (Paris): Bijoux, Montres, Argenterie, Objets de Vitrine http://www.auction.fr/FR/v16788-rossini-bijoux-montres-argenterie-objets-de-vitrine/infos.html

21 May:
Ineichen (Zurich): Uhren/Schmuck-Auktion No. 153  http://www.auktionshaus-ineichen.ch/aiag/index.php?id=52&L=2
Meeting Art (Milan): Modern and Vintage Watches, session I  http://www.meetingart.it

22 May:
Meeting Art (Milan): Modern and Vintage Watches, session II  http://www.meetingart.it

24 May:
Bonhams (London):  Clocks and Watches  http://www.bonhams.com/EUR/sale/18836/0/

25 May:
Meeting Art (Milan): Modern and Vintage Watches, session III  http://www.meetingart.it
Christie's (London):  Elegance: Jewels, Watches & Handbags  http://www.christies.com/calendar/

26 May:
Fellows (Birmingham): Secondhand Jewellery & Watches  http://www.fellows.co.uk/wrist-watch-auctions

27 May:
Millon associés (Paris): Horlogerie Montres de Collection  http://millon-associes.com/vo27052011/millon_27052011.pdf

28 May:
Meeting Art (Milan): Modern and Vintage Watches, session IV  http://www.meetingart.it

29 May:
Meeting Art (Milan): Modern and Vintage Watches, session V  http://www.meetingart.it

I will publish the June and July schedules toward end of May.

I hope you have as much fun with this as I do...

a simple app list

As an unabashed watch nerd, but also a technology geek (2 decades working in telecommunications will do that to you), I have been furiously collecting watch-themed apps for my iPhone.  My current “collection” has the following:

Watch producers:

Richemont group:

A. Lange, Paiget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, IWC, Montblanc Rieussac, Montblanc (multi product)

Swatch Group:

Omega, Longines, Tissot, Rado

LVMH: 

Hublot, Zenith, Monaco V4 (Tag Heuer), Chaumet (Dandy)

Other groups:

Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux, Perrelet, Parmigiani, Chanel (J12), Bell & Ross, Boucheron, Hermes

Independents:

Chronomat (Breitling), Maurice Lacroix, Frederique Constant, Dewitt,  RJ Time (Romain Jerome), AirmanClock (Glycine), Black Moon (Sarpaneva), Time Zoner (Vogard), Stowa, Nienaber Bünde, Victorinox, Milus, Traser H3

Watch Media companies:

Uhren News, Chronos, Uhren Magazin, Heure-FR, Watch International, OdC LITE, MyWatch, Worldtempus News, HHMagazine

Watch Catalogues:

100 Years of Rolex, OdC PLUS, UhrenMagazine Neuheiten, Uhren2010, Uhrwerke, AnuarioTR, Wempe 2010

Second-hand and vintage watches for sale:

MMC Montres, Watchchrono, Meertz, watchsea24, Blowers

Auction houses:

Antiquorum, Christies, Fellows

Other:

Kronometry, 10hs10, HHGame, Kello, Rolex Explorer, FakeWatch, Watches

This is meant to be a simple list of some of the apps out there at the moment, but there will be a lot more available in the Apple App Store. For example, there are a lot apps that have been developed for specific Rolex models. They are quite expensive and I have not yet decided to purchase them.

I will be reviewing some of the apps on my machine  in the next months…

Watch manufacturers in unusual countries - The Netherlands

I have lately been interested in watches made in the "Western countries" outside of Switzerland and Germany.

And once you start researching what is out there, it becomes very surprising how many actually exist, from high-end movement manufacturers, through expensive "emboiteurs", to basic low-end quartz watch producers.

Four of the these western countries with the most watch manufacturers are the Netherlands, France, Italy, and the US.

The Netherlands itself alone has 7 producers that I know of:

- Christiaan van der Klaauw: this is a very interesting manufacturer in Heerenveen (Friesland), which bases his design on the heritage of Friesian Astronomer Eise Eisinga, who built a Planetarium near there in the city of Franeker. He uses ETA movements, but seems to have created his own as well, called KB 52824-2

- Van der Gang: based in Dokkum (also Friesland!), produces IWC Portuguese look-a-likes based on ETA 2992-A2 and Valjoux 775x.

- Steiner Limited: based in Maastricht, also produces Portuguese look-a-likes based on Valjoux 775x. Anecdote: I know someone who has one, and it is really impressive quality.

- Van Ree: is in Bussum, produces "the first watch ever to store the DNA of the owner"

- Dingemans: located near Rotterdam, makes 12 watches a year, customised to the future owner's wishes.

- Pelikaan Timing: in Utrecht, make a nice looking "Aviator" type watch based on a Unitas 6498-1 movement.

- Kiber: in Den Haag, seems to have a big collection of low cost watches, mostly on Japanese movements

I am in Friesland often for family reasons, and I certainly hope to go check out Christiaan van der Klaauw and one day buy one.

SIHH - what is it?

The SIHH in Geneva has kicked off today.. just for those who don't know, the SIHH stands for the "Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie" and it is the commercial fair set-up by those watch manufacturers that are part of the Richemont group, one of the world's leading luxury goods group. These watch manufacturers are for example Vacheron Constantin, A.Lange & Sohne, Roger Dubuis, Piaget, IWC, Panerai, Cartier, and Montblanc. In addition, there also a few "friendly" brands such as Gruebel-Forsey (Richemont is minority sharelholder), Ralph Lauren (who use Richemont group movements) and Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard (both belong to the Sowind group, of which another luxury good giant, PPR, owns a minority stake) at the SIHH.

Because this fair was so specific but nevertheless important, other manufacturers have set up parallel fairs in Geneva to "catch" the same buyers visiting SIHH, plus some brands have set up individual presence in hotels in Geneva at the same time. The "parallel" fairs are GTE (Geneva Time Exhibition), WPHH (World Presentation of Haute Horlogerie) and Horlogers Artisans d'Art.

In my opinion, GTE is the most interesting "parallel" fair with presence of high-end watches from Ateliers de Monaco, Alain Silberstein, Antoine Preziuso, Aquanautic, Artya, Aspen, BRM (Bernard Richard Manufacture, France), Cabestan, HD3, Ladoire Genève, Linde Werdelin, Louis Chevrolet, Magellan, MCT – Manufacture Contemporaine du Temps, Peter Rebellion Timepieces, Snyper, Steenman Watches, Cargo Titanium, Volna, and Valbray..

Buying second hand

I have a rather large collection (maybe too large!) of vintage and second hand watches which I've bought these over various channels in Europe. I've bought over eBay, from Bonhams auction house, over Chrono24, and from watches.co.uk . All have different things to be aware of.

For eBay, the important thing is to "buy" the seller, so check out his credentials and satsifaction points. There are a lot of fakes on eBay.

Buying at Bonhams (the others auctions houses that sell watches in Europe are Antiquorum and Patrizzi) is easier than you think, but I do recommend viewing the watches first hand before bidding on anything.

For Chrono24, I'd only buy from someone who is identified as a "Trusted reseller".

There are many direct dealers who sell second-hand, and watches.co.uk is just one that I can recommend. I particularly like the way they rate their watches on a scale of 10, and if you buy one rated 10/10 (which they mostly have), you'll get a watch in pristine and almost new condition.

Some final points:

- second-hand and vintage watches may need to be serviced, so don't always expect these watches to keep perfect time! I would recommend budgeting the £200/EUR 240 -£300/EUR 360 for service in your calculations.

- Vintage watches usually have plexiglass which can scratch easily, they also might not be waterproof, and the lume might be worn off (hands and numbers won't be visible in the dark).